Dawson let’s hands go to wrest WBC and Ring Magazine titles from 47 year old Hopkins

With judge Luis Rivera’ scorecard announced first at 114 apiece to add some excitement to a less than thrilling main event last night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, this after Chad Dawson had clearly won at least 7-8 rounds, the immediate thought that came to mind was the suspension of three New Jersey judges who would inexplicably score a bout for Paul Williams after he got picked apart by Cuban fighter Erislandy Lara.

Be that as it may, both Dick Flaherty and Steve Weisfeld were more in tune with reality, scoring the decision 117-110 each for “Bad” Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) of New Haven, Connecticut. In the process, Chad overnight has become both the WBC and Ring Magazine light heavyweight champion, putting to rest “Once and For All,” as the fight was billed, the notion that Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) would be able to fend off the younger fighter after their debacle of a first no-contest meeting in October of last year. In the end, Dawson would separate himself far enough from the Philadelphia fighter to render “B-Hop” insignificant as concerns the division’s top spot, although the 47 year old veteran vows to fight on.

Thinking that Benrard perhaps had at least one good physical performance left in him to stay with the young gun, that would not be the case, as the aging fighter, old enough to be Chad’ father, was unable to keep pace when the challenger got busy. I said it before and I’ll say it again, when Chad Dawson let’s his hands and feet do his bidding, he’s a force to be reckoned with and looks difficult to beat.

However, “Bad” Chad was early on just as spotty and inconsistent in his latest performance as he was during his initial encounter with Glen Johnson, as well as in his recent bout to Jean Pascal where he would suffer his first and only professional defeat to date. Perhaps surrendering at least two-three of the first few rounds as a result cooperating and fighting the older man’s fight, Dawson would allow the veteran pugilist to pot shot and then tie him up instead of getting separation by utilizing his jab, follow up shots, and hand speed.

With Dawson trainer John Scully advising his charge to watch out for a counter right hand rather than the right lead which “B-Hop” likes to jump in with, Scully would subsequently give Chad much better advice, and it turns out the only advice he would need which was to let his hands go. It wasn’t until round 5 that Dawson got on track, as he began to put his punches together throwing sharp, quick combinations to both body and head. Once that happened, it was crystal clear that Bernard had no answer, with his only hope being that Chad would somehow revert back to fighting at the pace at which he had fought in previous rounds.

With perhaps the ability to overwhelm “B-Hop” if indeed he would have more consistently unleashed his arsenal, Dawson’ tendency was to fight almost on a par with Bernard, as he would win the majority of rounds by doing just a bit more as the busier fighter who would land the cleaner shots.

Dawson would respond to some adversity along the way, the recipient of an accidental head butt in round 4, which would leave a cut over his eye. Undaunted and perhaps spurred on as a result, Dawson would receive more of the same, as Hopkins would seemingly lead with his head on occasion which is no surprise due to Bernard’ tactical nature of wanting to get in close to rough his opponent up. “I took a lot of head butts. Actually I’ve got a headache right now,” stated Dawson post fight.

However, Dawson was as much to blame for receiving any head butt as was Hopkins in making contact, whether by design on the part of Bernard as some would suggest, or not. Chad would simply allow Hopkins to tie him up, failing to maintain distance and even falling in himself as a result of not finishing off his combinations, which when he did, there were no such incidents.

In any event, as effective and formidable as Chad is when he get’s busy, it’s all the more bewildering that he is inconsistent in doing so which seems to be less something physical, and more a mental let down of sorts which leads to a tentativeness. With that said, he seemingly broke free somewhat from that cerebral blockage which has lessened past performances, and would no doubt hinder future performances against younger opponents such as Andre S.O.G. Ward, whom he would call out post fight to meet either at light heavy or super middleweight. This would be no less than a highly anticipated stellar match up with two universally recognized champions from different divisions to meet up.

With Chad pre-fight alluding to the fact that he wanted to get rid of Bernard Hopkins entirely from the sport of boxing, he would have this to say about his latest opponent, “I got to give him credit. He’s a future Hall of Famer. He’s a hell of a fighter. He’s got some dirty little tactics, but if you can get through twelve rounds with him, you can get through anything.”

I don’t know if Chad can get through anything, but it’s a good win for him as he looks to be on his way to bigger and better things if he doesn’t get tripped up in the process. As for Bernard Hopkins, he is perhaps somewhat disillusioned, somehow believing he was robbed in a fight he would do so little in. “What did he do to win that fight?” Hopkins said afterward. “They did what they wanted to do. The only way I knew I would win is if I knocked him out.”

After all is said and done, getting to the top again looks to be out of reach for the now former champion Bernard Hopkins, although he still has enough left to perhaps best many other fighters in the division. The question is, what is it going to get him, and who is going to watch? It’s unthinkable that he will ever land a Pay Per View date, much less garner any other type of television date as that would be a hard sell. In essence, this looks to be one of the last chapters, if not thee last, in a colorful and animated career.

Co-main event

With Andre Ward trainer Virgil Hunter at the helm working “Gentleman” Chaz Witherspoon’ corner, Chaz (30-3, 22 KO’s) would start out much better than expected, rocking undefeated heavyweight Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (25-0-1, 19 KO’s) with a bevy of right hands to have the former Michigan State linebacker wobbling back to his corner at the close of the first round.

Somewhat shaky in round two, Mitchell would gather himself to unleash a devastating body attack which would visibly take the starch our of his opponent, ushering in the beginning of the end for the Philadelphia born Witherspoon.

With “Mayhem” taking control of the bout, he would find the jaw of Witherspoon in the third frame, dropping him to the canvass with a big time left hook. Able to beat the count, Mitchell would subsequently back his opponent to the ropes to put the finishing touches on Chaz with two powerful straight right hands, causing referee Randy Neumann to call if off at 2:31 of round 3.

Mitchell, upon capturing the vacant NABO heavyweight title would state, “he actually got me dazed, but I was able to get myself together and weather the storm. I just wanted to put my punches together. He didn’t have any defense for my body shots.”

Solid win for the 29 year old Brandywine, Maryland resident, who with only ten amateur fights didn’t take up the sport until 2006. It remains to be seen how far he can go, but he seems like a game, intelligent fighter who can put on an exiting show.